‘The Plan’ is unfolding in Central, and it’s all designed to help parents help their teens to delay drinking alcohol.

The risks associated with drinking alcohol are highest for teens under the age of 18. There’s a plan in place to help parents delay their teens’ drinking and reduce alcohol-related risk. 

‘The Plan’ is a project that has been designed with our own community needs in mind.

CODA, or Central Otago Drugs and Alcohol, is a group of eighteen organisations who have come together to take positive action and reduce harm to people in our local communities.

“Our role is education”, says Puna Rangatahi manager Sharleen Stirling-Lindsay.

“We make sure that people have the right information to make really informed choices.”

Out of that role, Sharleen explained, came The Plan.

“The Plan has been successfully rolled out in Invercargill and Nelson Marlborough, and now it’s our turn.”

The team at Puna Rangatahi in Alexandra are right behind the project.

“The younger a person starts drinking alcohol, the more likely they are to go on to drink harmfully in their late teens and into their adult life,” says Public Health South health promoter Sophie Glover.

The Plan is designed by parents to help parents help their teens, and reduce that risk.

“The way it started, there was a lot of talk from parents that they didn’t really know how to have conversations with young people about alcohol.

“They didn’t know the best thing to do.”

Sophie said a lot of parents got together and developed resources, and The Plan developed from there.

“The Plan is a series of resources that help parents plan conversations with young people, and inform them about the laws relating to minors,” CODA member Stephanie Bekhuis-Pay explained.

“A lot of parents don’t fully know the laws around supplying to minors.

“Kids come home, there’s peer pressure, there’s a party and ‘my friends are allowed to take alcohol’, and parents often don’t really know how to deal with that.

“Parents might be holding a 17 year old birthday party, they might think it’s OK to put a few beers out for the kids, and that’s actually against the law.

“The Plan is a set of tools we’re putting into bottle stores, so parents can pick them up, take them home and read them.

“It’s just some guidance about doing it right.”

Stephanie says the resources will first go out to liquor outlets in the Alexandra area, then will be rolled out further afield.

“If you’re hosting a party, parents need to be aware they need parental consent if providing alcohol, you’ve got to be at the party with the kids, not tucked away in the house while they’re in the shed.

“It’s about being there, watching what’s going on, ensuring there’s plenty of food, plenty of non-alcoholic drinks, transport home, all these things.

“And knowing your responsibilities under the law if you give your teen alcohol.”

“When we spoke to parents to help make sure the resources were right for them, we found they weren’t really sure what ‘consent’ or ‘active supervision’ meant in real terms”, says Sharleen.

“The words didn’t mean a lot to them - they wanted more information.

“Also some information around what it does to young people and their developing minds, when they are drinking earlier and earlier.

“Parents want to do the right thing, but there’s a lot of peer pressure out there.

“Teens just want to fit in and be the same.

“For a lot of parents it’s easier if they can talk to their teens about the facts, have clear ways to have those conversations and set limits, and they know there’s someone local who’s backing them up.”

“All parents want the best for their kids. We’re just trying to help make those conversations a little bit easier,” Sophie added.

Stephanie agreed.

“No parent wants that knock on the door at two o’clock in the morning, that’s for sure.

“We all just want our young people to be safe, healthy and happy.”

To find out more about ‘The Plan’ and some of the resources available for parents click here

The No Safe Limit website also has resources to help parents understand the effects of alcohol on teens, as well as helpful strategies and advice to help keep their teens safe.

Images Mary Hinsen